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Monday, May 11, 2015

{Healthier} Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl "Cupcakes"

Are these muffins? Are these cupcakes? Are they some sort of healthier hybrid?? We may never know. But-for simplicity's sake...we'll call them cupcakes. Even though they have no frosting...and are actually acceptable for breakfast...

...just....go with me on this.

These cupcakes are made with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, egg whites, TWO bananas, and swirl of peanut butter (or-in my case-homemade almond peanut butter). They also have unsweetened cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips which are perfectly fine. And...and I mean...there's also a little bit of all purpose flour, sugar, and some peanut butter chips. But not much of them! So I definitely still ate these as my healthy snack and for breakfast. (Not that I've never eaten a full on cupcake or cookie for breakfast...I have...I just, ya know, felt semi-bad about it.)

My brother and I were big fans of these--which makes sense. They combine chocolate, banana, and peanut butter. Which we love. Our only complaint is a wish that there was more peanut butter sooo---if you wanna be extra generous with your peanut butter swirl...I certainly would approve. Michael didn't adore these (he thought they were fine), largely because they have a fairly obvious banana flavor and he is not a banana fan. But that's ok! They're so moist and soft and there's gooey chocolate chips (if you're smart and eat these warm) and a bit of peanut butter and just...mmm. They're delicious enough that I don't mind not sharing!

Using a fork, potato masher, or hand mixer thoroughly mash bananas in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, egg white, yogurt, and vanilla extract.

Either sift the flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder directly into the wet ingredients or whisk them vigorously together in a medium bowl before adding (just make sure there are no clumps).

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips. Batter will be lumpy and thick.

Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups-filling up to the top. Take approx. 1 tsp. of melted peanut butter and place it on top of a filled muffin cup. Use a toothpick or knife to swirl it into the top of the cupcake. Sprinkle peanut butter chips on top. Repeat.

Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.